The Cry of a Child
by Celeblass
Summary: Aragorn is finding out some of the difficulties of being a new father.


Disclaimer: I own neither the characters nor the places, nor anything the baby decides to 'share'. Everything belongs to Tolkien and I'm just borrowing it for the time being. I make no money from it, but I can say I have had fun writing it. I know nothing in it is particularly accurate and I don't have a beta, so if my grammar/spelling is off, please forgive me. 

A/N: I had no real idea where this was going when I began writing it, but it turned out to be something… interesting. I wrote it at work, so I haven't checked any dates, places, clothing, etc., and I decided it might be best to leave out any specific details I might have otherwise included. This is after Aragorn has been crowned and is living in Minas Tirith (obviously). I threw in Legolas and Gimli simply because I thought it might be fun. Though I didn't really explain why they are there in the fic, I take it for granted that you will assume they are there for a visit. This is essentially a piece of fluff. Enjoy. ;P

The Cry of a Child

He couldn't help but smile as the little fingers gripped his own index finger. Big blue eyes stared up at him, framed by dark hair. A rather large amount of dark hair, especially for a baby. Aragorn blinked as the child seemed to smile at him. Maybe not seemed… Did.

"He's absolutely gorgeous," the man whispered, glancing up at his wife. Arwen reached over and placed a hand on him arm. She looked tired and unkempt, but she was still as beautiful as ever to him. He couldn't be happier.

"Make it stop!" Aragorn cried, shoving his hands over his ears. For the last couple of hours, Eldarion had been crying non-stop. As much as he loved his son, enough was enough. He had work to do and his concentration had long since been shattered.

"Don't you yell around him, Estel!" Arwen glared at him as her husband opened his mouth again. "I'm just as tired as you are! I just don't know what's wrong."

The king suddenly had the urge to slam his forehead against his desk. "I'm sorry, love, but I just… can't… get any work done here. Do you think it would help if I took him for a walk? Maybe I could find something that would," he paused, looking at his son, "divert his attention elsewhere."

It was worth a try. Business would have to come later.

Arwen blinked for several moments before nodding. "Perhaps you should. I need to-"

"To sit down and relax for a little while. Give Eldarion to me. Maybe some father-son bonding will help."

The screaming child was handed over and Aragorn winced. If anything, the cries became louder. "I'm amazed the entire city hasn't been up here yet to see what all the commotion is about," he muttered.

"Then maybe you should stay up here instead of subjecting your loyal subjects to this. They may try and hang you, thinking you're torturing your poor son."

He frowned, shaking his head. However she had heard his comment, he didn't want to know. It was probably for the best.

"Shhhh… Why are you crying, El?" Aragorn paced around the courtyard, gently rocking his son. Afternoon was fading into evening and the sun was beginning to sink behind the mountains, causing everything to fall into shadows.

He sighed, dropping his head and allowing Eldarion to grab a fistful of hair. And yank on it. The man swallowed a curse. This screaming monster was nothing like the beautiful child Arwen had given birth to only weeks ago. And for all he could tell, there was nothing wrong. He was well fed, his diapers were -- Aragorn shuddered at past memories – clean, he could not be cold and his father doubted he was too warm, constant attention was no help, nor was being left alone. The child just wouldn't stop crying.

"Would you like to hear a song?" A slight hitch in the wailing was the only answer he received. "I used to love this song when I was young."

Aragorn closed his eyes and imagined his childhood, his voice reflecting his feelings as each word came tumbling out. He could feel himself flying back to Imladris, feel his mother's arms around his shoulders as she sang this to him, feel his father's smile as he watched a young Estel say his first elven words…

His eyes shot open once more at the touch on his shoulder. For a brief instant he thought it was his mother, until he realized she had long since passed into Mandos' Halls. And that Eldarion was still in his arms, and still crying.

"That was lovely, mellon-nin, but I'm afraid your son doesn't like it as much as I do."

The king turn around and smiled ruefully at his two friends who had managed to sneak up on him. Legolas reached out and gently pried Aragorn's hair out of the baby's grasp – unfortunately having replaced it with a lock of his own – while Gimli stood near by snickering. Yes, snickering.

"Do you this this funny, Master Dwarf?" The man said irritably, for once ignoring the humor of the situation. He would have stepped closer to his friend if not for the fact the elf was now attached to him via Eldarion.

"It's not every day I see Aragorn, son of Arathorn, over-powered by an infant." Gimli's eyes shone beneath his bushy eyebrows.

"As long as you realize Legolas can be replaced, keep talking."

"How do you get him off?" Legolas whispered, quietly so that Gimli could not hear. Unfortunately, it was not loud enough. "Aragorn?" The elf tugged lightly on his friend's sleeve. "Help?"

Aragorn stared at him. "You do realize you have to speak louder. I'm afraid I'm going deaf. He's been like this for hours now." There was a loud snort from the dwarf.

Legolas' face had a distinctly red tinge to it. "How do you get him off?" That time it was loud enough. Loud enough for even Gimli to hear.

Who promptly gave up the ruse of even attempting to be polite and burst out in great gales of laughter. Both the elf and the human glared daggers at him.

"I will never live this down," Legolas muttered at the same time Aragorn said, "You demonstrated how by getting me disentangled." They looked at one another, both on the verge of grinning despite the situation.

Gimli stopped laughing and appeared to be on the verge of pointing his finger at both of them. "Neither of you have had any experience with children, have you?" At their hesitant expressions, he rocked back on his heels and chuckled. "I knew it! Pass him over here. You'll see how it's done!"

Aragorn glanced at his son and have a resigned shrug. "You'll have to take Legolas as well." Earning a frustrated look from the elf, he carefully handed Eldarion to Gimli.

Eldarion stopped crying.

Aragorn's jaw dropped and he reached up to touch his ears. "Have I finally lost my hearing?"

"Nay, 'tis only the boy catching his breath." There was a smug smile on his face. The dwarf unwrapped the child's fist from around Legolas' hair and deftly attached it to Eldarion's blanket.

Eldarion gurgled happily.

"Wha…" Arwen hurried over and looked between the three of them before leaning over and kissing Gimli on the forehead. "When I heard the crying stop, I was worried what you might have done!"

Aragorn felt his eye twitch. "It's not as though I would have thrown him over the edge… That's what you thought, wasn't it?"

She gave him an unreadable look. One that Gimli and Legolas both interpreted as meaning 'Yes, but I'm not about to tell you that'.

"It was!" He pointed his finger at her. "How could you have even thought of that?"

"You obviously did, too," she answered roughly. She took a step towards her husband.

The king knew that his eyes widened, and he attempted an innocent look, but Arwen knew him too well. "I… Well… Only because he wouldn't stop crying! I wouldn't actually do something like that…" She took another step forward and he did the only thing he could think of doing. He turned and ran.

Arwen smiled sweetly at the two friends left standing there. "Would you two be so kind as to watch Eldarion for a little while? I have a… matter… to take care of." Without waiting to see if they agreed, she turned and chased after her husband. Never would she admit to running after that day, but Aragorn wasn't seen until the next day, so it was obvious she caught up with him.

"Erm, what do we do now?" Legolas held up a section of his hair that looked wet before looking at Eldarion. He frowned.

Gimli shrugged then regretted it.

Eldarion had begun crying again.

The End


End file.
